[Rosebud]

... a deformed firing chamber is not something that's user fixable unless you're a gunsmith ... a lemon is bound to slip thru quality control on any assembly line once in a while ... that's a given ... it's how the manufacturer makes this good for the customer who laid down his money and just wants to get what he paid for that separates the men from the boys ... come on Ruger !!

 

[Rosebud]

... some cowboy action loads are pretty anemic but NO factory load should be so under-loaded as to cause a failure of the brass cartridge walls to seal the chamber when the round is fired ... if several brands and power levels of factory ammo have been fired in the rifle and the blow-by persists I suspect a deformed/oversized firing chamber ... blow-by of gases can be destructive and dangerous to gun/shooter/by-standers

 

[D Harry]

IMO, thius is normal. The chamber on pistol cartridge Marlins are oversize on purpose, to facilitate the straight walled case to cycle. That's why 44-40, 38-40, 32-20 are better in levers.. thinner cases, slope shoulder, they cycle easier.
I had an 1894s 44 mag that did this... with mid-power lever Unique loads. Faster powder might help. I should've got a 38-40 instead.

 

[xtriggerman]

No need for a chamber casting. It will only show you exactly what a "new" factory loaded case will give you. It will fire form to the chamber and give you a mirror image of the chamber. Before firing the cartridge, take a sharpy and dot the top of the rim as it sits at a 12 O clock position. Reason being, these chambers "should" be some what throated at the bottom face edge of the chamber to facilitate smooth feeding. This is normally done by hand but IDK what Ruger has eliminated on the assembly line. If its still done the old fashion way, the assembler may or my not go too much in removing the 4-8 O clock chamber edge. A fired case or casting for that matter will give a slight bulging here at the ramping/throating of the chamber. When you take a 1" micrometer to the fired casing, dont be fooled by this slight bulging on the case just forward of the rim at the 6 O clock area. Thats normal At 1/2" forward of the rim, you should see no difference in casing OD as you go around the casing with your Mic. In gunsmithing, a fired bright and new brass casing is key in diagnosing chamber wall condition. Most of the extraction type issues may show up as bright golden line rings around the fired brass. This designates a chamber that was reamed with a dull reamer, reamed too fast, or sometimes just not spun polished to the degree a nice chamber should be. Digs in the chamber wall from chip galling will be line bulges expressing hard to non-extraction. Many hunting rifles fall prey to chamber pitting from bringing in a frozen gun from the hunt to a warm indoors. Condensation inside the barrel can start pitting a barrel bad enough to where extraction become a major issue. Here again, a clean fired casing is the key to this diagnosis. I'm telling you..... a clean , new fired casing is where the key information is at. Nuff said.

 

[Steelguitarman]

So I received the rifle back today. Some interesting things happened and I noticed. I'll go over them

They replaced the front sight with their new and improved design.
It is noticeable different than their other. The biggest being thickness of the base and now both screws are accesable without removing the dovetail.

It does look straight now. If it is off, my eye alone cannot tell.

The bolt face is smoother now. Still a rough ring on it, but no large burr.

Tell me what you think of the bolt fit.

Is that okay?

 

[Steelguitarman]

The gun was attempted to be cleaned better than last, however, the barrel was still leaded up.

I ran a brush a few times, and then when back through with a patch. You can see the lead it picked up

I also shot it some and noticed that the blowback was still occurring, but not nearly as bad. See the pictures below.

Handload 23.5 gr of h110. Cantalure bullet with heavy crimp

Handload 23.5 grains of h110 with a lighter crimp(crimp did not seem to make a difference, it varied with both)

Ammo inc target rounds, less than before as I have pictures of it from before

Hornady leverevolution 225 hlgr ftx.
Sealed very well l with only a bit of blowback.

Light handloads of h110(not sure if this mixed with oil or what, but definelty worse on the cooler rounds.


I have not tried with hotter handloads because I didn't have any loaded up and ready to go

That's where I'm at now. So I guess I'm even more confused than before.

 

[Rosebud]

... disappointing to say the least ... Ruger must have hired the old Remlin CS crew. ... I was thinking of buying a Ruger/Marlin 1894 in 357 mag ... think I'll pass at least for the short term until I see Ruger/Marlin CS grabbing the bull by the horns in a more dedicated manner ... if the problem still persisted after a repair attempt and a test fire Ruger/Marlin should have sent a new replacement rifle

 

[Steelguitarman]

No need for a chamber casting. It will only show you exactly what a "new" factory loaded case will give you. It will fire form to the chamber and give you a mirror image of the chamber. Before firing the cartridge, take a sharpy and dot the top of the rim as it sits at a 12 O clock position. Reason being, these chambers "should" be some what throated at the bottom face edge of the chamber to facilitate smooth feeding. This is normally done by hand but IDK what Ruger has eliminated on the assembly line. If its still done the old fashion way, the assembler may or my not go too much in removing the 4-8 O clock chamber edge. A fired case or casting for that matter will give a slight bulging here at the ramping/throating of the chamber. When you take a 1" micrometer to the fired casing, dont be fooled by this slight bulging on the case just forward of the rim at the 6 O clock area. Thats normal At 1/2" forward of the rim, you should see no difference in casing OD as you go around the casing with your Mic. In gunsmithing, a fired bright and new brass casing is key in diagnosing chamber wall condition. Most of the extraction type issues may show up as bright golden line rings around the fired brass. This designates a chamber that was reamed with a dull reamer, reamed too fast, or sometimes just not spun polished to the degree a nice chamber should be. Digs in the chamber wall from chip galling will be line bulges expressing hard to non-extraction. Many hunting rifles fall prey to chamber pitting from bringing in a frozen gun from the hunt to a warm indoors. Condensation inside the barrel can start pitting a barrel bad enough to where extraction become a major issue. Here again, a clean fired casing is the key to this diagnosis. I'm telling you..... a clean , new fired casing is where the key information is at. Nuff said.

I fired some new cases, will these tell you anything?

 

[Steelguitarman]

I fired some new cases, will these tell you anything?

View attachment 955738
View attachment 955737



View attachment 955736
View attachment 955735

View attachment 955748
View attachment 955747
View attachment 955746
View attachment 955745

 

[xtriggerman]

Before we go any further, are you one of those guys that over oils their gun actions? because alot of this looks like blown oil by powder residue. It looks so wet to me. Your action should be virtualy dry with only a tad smudge of oil on the bolt rub surfaces. Nothing in and around the inside of the barrel face and mag tube. Looks like its over oiled where the hammer is back as well with "stuff" sticking in the lube.
As for the fired cartridges, the last ones look like straight line scrapes? Are they scraping length wise like that just running new cartridges in and out of the gun unfired? A slight loading scuff is fine but not like what your picturing. If this gun was on my bench, I would speed polish the chamber mouth edge to a chrome like finish to eliminate initial in chamber angle scrape, then spin polish the chamber walls with some 320g. Those long scrapes dont belong on brand new once fired.

 

[leverbros]

Before we go any further, are you one of those guys that over oils their gun actions? because alot of this looks like blown oil by powder residue. It looks so wet to me. Your action should be virtualy dry with only a tad smudge of oil on the bolt rub surfaces. Nothing in and around the inside of the barrel face and mag tube. Looks like its over oiled where the hammer is back as well with "stuff" sticking in the lube.
As for the fired cartridges, the last ones look like straight line scrapes? Are they scraping length wise like that just running new cartridges in and out of the gun unfired? A slight loading scuff is fine but not like what your picturing. If this gun was on my bench, I would speed polish the chamber mouth edge to a chrome like finish to eliminate initial in chamber angle scrape, then spin polish the chamber walls with some 320g. Those long scrapes dont belong on brand new once fired.

Good observation. Good possibility that's a big contributor to the problem if not the main one.

 

[JACKTW]

OP, I agree with xtriggerman, you're running your rifle too wet. If it were me, I'd tear it down and clean it removing the oil. Then, a few drops of oil will do the entire action. Example, I use a drop of oil and my finger to coat the entire bolt, as an example.

Jack

 

[leverbros]

Gunblue490 covers this subject very well on one of his Youtube videos. Says that very little oiling, if any at all, is needed on most areas of the gun mechanism. Says that its not an internal combustion engine where high heat and friction is created by the moving parts.

 

[Rosebud]

... that's easy enough to check ... strip the gun to basic parts and clean/purge all oil/dirt with alcohol or de-chlorinated brake parts cleaner then re-lubricate very sparingly during reassembly ... the 1894 action is easy to disassemble and reassemble ... lots of youtube tutorials on this

 

[Steelguitarman]

Before we go any further, are you one of those guys that over oils their gun actions? because alot of this looks like blown oil by powder residue. It looks so wet to me. Your action should be virtualy dry with only a tad smudge of oil on the bolt rub surfaces. Nothing in and around the inside of the barrel face and mag tube. Looks like its over oiled where the hammer is back as well with "stuff" sticking in the lube.
As for the fired cartridges, the last ones look like straight line scrapes? Are they scraping length wise like that just running new cartridges in and out of the gun unfired? A slight loading scuff is fine but not like what your picturing. If this gun was on my bench, I would speed polish the chamber mouth edge to a chrome like finish to eliminate initial in chamber angle scrape, then spin polish the chamber walls with some 320g. Those long scrapes dont belong on brand new once fired.

I probably am over oiling. I will usually drop a few beads on each side of the bolt. This may be too much and will try with less.
I have not oiled the mag tube or any part of the chamber or barrel. It could be dripping down off the bolt.

As for the cases, I hand dropped each one into the chamber carefully as to not put any scratched on if from the chamber mouth, loading gate, or carrier

 

[Steelguitarman]

OP, I agree with xtriggerman, you're running your rifle too wet. If it were me, I'd tear it down and clean it removing the oil. Then, a few drops of oil will do the entire action. Example, I use a drop of oil and my finger to coat the entire bolt, as an example.

Jack

I'm using more than a few drops of oil for sure. Mainly on the bolt.
Thank you

 

[Steelguitarman]

Gunblue490 covers this subject very well on one of his Youtube videos. Says that very little oiling, if any at all, is needed on most areas of the gun mechanism. Says that its not an internal combustion engine where high heat and friction is created by the moving parts.

Good point, I will check that video out if I can find it

 

[Steelguitarman]

... that's easy enough to check ... strip the gun to basic parts and clean/purge all oil/dirt with alcohol or de-chlorinated brake parts cleaner then re-lubricate very sparingly during reassembly ... the 1894 action is easy to disassemble and reassemble ... lots of youtube tutorials on this

Yes, I did just oil it before shooting. And definetly too much.
I know now.

 

[Rosebud]

Yes, I did just oil it before shooting. And definetly too much.
I know now.

... so by the process of elimination if the rifle is still experiencing blow-by the problem must be something else ... as said before if the blow-by is happening with different brands and power levels of factory ammo I suspect we're looking at a malformed firing chamber which should be Rugers problem (warranty activation) NOT yours ... the rifle was bought with the presumption that it was a fully functioning firearm NOT a kit gun requiring hands on by the purchaser/user to become fully functional ... I have owned several 44 mag handguns & rifles in my time and the problem you are experiencing is NOT normal

 

[xtriggerman]

When I run into an over oiled action, I get a can of easy start, go outside and after stripping the action, blast it good with the easy start and while wet, hit it with 100 psi of air. If the oil had all ready turned to grunge in the nooks n crannies, a stiff m16 tooth style brush and easy start it, then the air. It finishes so clean, you can weld on it. One other thing, I think those length wise scratches may be sizing die marks if they are your reloads rather than factory new unfired. In that case, its probably not the issue.